As lawsuits pile up around the world Apple has made a grovelling offer to “let people see if their battery’s age affects their phone’s performance” in the future.

The big iPhone Company was caught out nobbling the performance of iPhone models prior to the current iPhone 8 and iPhone X models. The excuse they gave was that they were trying to protect owner’s batters, some say the real reason was that Apple was trying to force current owners of iPhones to upgrade to a new iPhone as some of the nobbled devices were less than 12 months old.

Earlier today Apple chief executive Tim Cook was forced to apologise to customers. The move could cost the Company tens of millions of dollars at a time when US analyst are warning that consumers are balking at the iPhone X’s high price and lack of innovation resulting in them switching to Android devices which are seen as being superior when it comes to smartphone innovation.

Desperate to protect their questionable reputation Apple has also been forced to offer a discount on battery replacements to anyone with an iPhone 6 or later, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

A replacement will now cost $US29 instead of $US79 starting in late January 2018.

Cook still rejects allegations that Apple slowed down phones with older batteries as a way to push people into buying new phones.

The spin that Apple initially came up with was based on claims that unless it reduced the performance of its phones, the older batteries ran a higher risk of spontaneously shutting down. This explanation makes technical sense, many experts have said.

In Australia In Australia, Queensland-based Shine Lawyers is investigating a class action for “strict product liability, negligence, breach of warranty, and a violation of consumer trust”.

Melbourne based Maurice Blackburn has also been approached to run a class action for Australian iPhone owners.

In the USA hundreds of owners have joined class actions against Apple.

South Korean government telecommunications officials have also said they will look into the reports, according to the Korea Herald.A French consumer rights group filed a suit on December 27 that accuses Apple of degrading its old phones in order to sell new ones.

In France, it’s illegal to degrade old products to promote the sale of new ones, meaning that the suit filed in France is the only lawsuit that carries the possibility of up to two years in prison.

Apple whose PR department in Australia was caught out backing a fraudster recently did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suits or the investigation.

David Richards has been writing about technology for more than 30 years. A former Fleet Street, Journalist He wrote the Award Winning Series on the Federated Ships Painters + Dockers Union for the Bulletin that led to a Royal Commission. He is also a Logie Winner. for Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism with a story called The Werribee Affair. In 1997, he built the largest Australian technology media Company and prior to that the third largest PR Company that became the foundation Company for Ogilvy PR. Today he writes about technology and the impact on both business and consumers.